The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard Against
Domestic Faction and Insurrection (continued)
Daily Advertiser
Thursday, November 22, 1787
[James Madison]
"It could never be
more truly said than of the first remedy, that it was worse than the disease.
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it
instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is
essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to
wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it
imparts to fire its destructive agency."
In this passage
written by James Madison, he describes how liberty is essential to political
life and how liberty itself also feeds factions. The "first remedy" referred to by
Madison is the removal of liberty to prevent factions which will in turn
eliminate the adverse affects on the rights of other citizens. He then proceeds to say that the idea of
removing liberty is folly and likens the notion to the "annihilation of
air."
I chose this passage
because of how Madison compared liberty to air and the dangers of a faction to
fire. The idea of curing the mischief of a faction by removing liberty is
tantamount to a remedy being far worse than it's disease.
